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After everything was settled and Princess Hisui was given the appropriate punishment, everyone went back to enjoying the party, it’s not everyday you are invited to the palace for a grand party.
When Natsu returned to the drinks table, Lucy followed along.
“Don’t you wanna join the dance?” Natsu asked as he saw Lucy grabbing a drink. He knew she enjoyed dancing and most of their friends had joined the dance floor too except Lucy.
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t feel like it.” The person I want to dance with doesn’t want to. She didn’t care to say her thoughts aloud. Though she wanted to dance, spending time with Natsu after all that had happened was enough.
“Such a show off.” Natsu grunted.
When Lucy followed Natsu’s line of sight, she spotted Gray who was dancing with Wendy. His elegant and smooth moves was earning applause and praises from the crowd.
“Gyah, I can’t bear to watch.” Natsu screamed as he pulled his hair.
“Well Gray sure is great at dancing.” Lucy said with an impressed smile.
Natsu was still grumbling at the sight of Gray taking over the dance floor.
“Ugh, I won’t let Gray best me. Let’s go, Lucy!” Natsu grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dance floor.
“Wah? Natsu, wait-“ Lucy didn’t have time to process anything as Natsu placed his arm around her waist and held up one of her hands in his.
As he moved back and started swaying into the tune of the music, he stared at her with a confused look.
“Lucy, aren’t you supposed to be placing your hand on my shoulder?” He said blankly as one of Lucy’s hand was dangling, confused at the sudden change.
“Eh?” She blinked. By now she should have gotten used to Natsu’s antics, but he was just too unpredictable at times. She sighed and smiled. “Of course.” She replied as she placed her arm on his shoulder.
They swayed to the music for quite sometime, just simple swaying and moving around as they kept their eyes on each other, which surprised Lucy.
“Shouldn’t you be stepping on my feet by now.” Lucy said with a smug grin and a playful look in her eyes. Maybe he was too determined on beating Gray that he tried his best to focus.
“You’re mean, Lucy.” He pouted. “But Erza trained us before the ball saying that it’s the “palace” and it’s a “royal” party and we should be “well mannered."
Oh, she had almost forgot about that. They all had gotten some sort of “training” on ways to conduct yourself in a palace including ballroom dancing.
“I am so glad-ouch.” Natsu stepped on her feet. “I spoke too soon.” She sighed.
“I am definitely not losing to Gray.” Natsu said with determination.
They had been swaying up till now. But now a group had formed a circle along with their partners and Natsu and Lucy joined the circle.
Lucy noticed that the other groups were preparing for a twirl and so Lucy moved back still holding Natsu’s hand and he twirled her. When she came back to him, she noticed that they were synchronized with the rest of the group.
Natsu wanted to see her twirl again, because she just looked so graceful when she had. So when the group twirled again, this time Natsu focused on her and her alone.
Lucy’s gown twirled along with her, one hand picking up her gown slightly as her eyes gazed down. Each twirl making her look like an angel. She twirled and then twirled again and the third time, she lifted her gaze up and locked it with his.
As she came back to him again, Natsu grinned as he wondered how she would look dancing continuously.
“What are you smiling at?” Lucy whispered with a smile.
“That you look beautiful when you dance.” Natsu replied with a wide grin as he ever so slightly pulled her closer to his body.
Lucy’s face exploded right there. She was so glad she was wearing makeup or her blush would be too obvious.
“Th-thank you.” She mumbled as she tried to convince herself that he was complimenting her dancing, not her looks.
“Alright, let’s beat Gray.” He said, the determination returning again.
The dance had shifted to groups of two. They would be briefly exchanging partners now. As they parted, they linked their arms together such that they were shoulder to shoulder as they moved in opposite directions in a circle. Natsu gazed down at Lucy who was looking up at him from his left shoulder. Both of their faces were now closer and breaths mingled for a brief moment.
Keeping their gazes on each other they moved away and twirled around to link hands with the other pair. As Lucy tore her gaze away from Natsu, she looked at the person who she had linked arms with.
“Yo.”
“G-Gajeel?” She squeaked as he stared at her with his usual grin, showing all of his sharp teeth. “When did you join?”
She moved away from Gajeel and with one twirl, Lucy came back to Natsu. Raising her right hand he twirled her and then dipped her back.
Please don’t drop me. Please don’t drop me.
Thankfully he didn’t.
Lucy felt the distinct presence of another person’s head who was also dipped just like her such that their respective partners were facing each other.
“Gihi, we ain’t losing to Salamander and his princess.” She heard Gajeel say in a challenging tone. Of course the other pair was Gajeel and-
“Of course not.” She heard Levy reply back.
“Do you even know dancing, metal head?” Natsu shot back.
“Look who’s talking, flame brain.” Gajeel hissed, his eyes narrowed.
“We are still down here y’know.” Levy and Lucy yelled together.
When had this turned into a competition? They really didn’t pay attention to time and place when it came to their arguments.
As both the girls came back up, they resumed dancing.
When Lucy looked around, Lyon was now dancing with Juvia. While Gray still danced with Wendy, he threw insults at Lyon from time to time through gritted teeth. Lucy sighed. Palace manners be damned, they will never learn.
Lucy’s attention came back to Natsu as she heard him grumbling.
“Don’t let him get to you.” Lucy said with a smile. “It doesn’t have to be a competition, dancing can be fun.”
“But it is a competition.” Natsu replied plainly.
“It’s not.” Lucy sighed. “Just focus on me, forget about competition and winning.” Lucy brought her arm around his neck so that they were closer and all they could see was each other’s faces.
“Focus on the music and on both of our movements.”
Natsu did, gazing directly into her eyes. At some point he got lost in those brown eyes. All he could see was Lucy. All he felt was Lucy. All he heard was Lucy.
Natsu broke out of his daze as Lucy moved away from his grasp such that she was still holding his hand while stretched her other hand outwards.
As Lucy leaned away from Natsu, she spotted Levy doing the same move, in sync with her as Gajeel held her other hand. Both the girls smiled at each other before they were pulled to their respective partners.
Natsu wanted Lucy back with him, locking eyes with him and so he must have pulled her a bit forcefully. The result was Lucy crashing into his chest. Her chest was now pressed against his.
Lucy looked up at him. He was too close! In the heat of the moment, Lucy slowly moved the arm, which was on his shoulder, to his neck. Their faces were so close to each other that their breaths mingled. Both of them, too captivated in each other eyes. Lucy inched closer and their noses touched. She heard Natsu take a sharp breath.
When the crowd started clapping and whistling, both of them looked around them. The music had ended and the dancing pairs had started dispersing. Natsu and Lucy were a bit late to realize that and so they were the only ones still attached to each other.
Lucy moved away from him hastily, with a red face.
“Looks like we won.” Natsu pumped his fist in the air. Unbeknownst to him, the crowd was cheering them for the unintentional “display of passion”.
“Hey Lucy.” Natsu whispered as he grabbed her hand. “Let’s sneak out.”
Lucy internally squeaked. Was her fairytale finally coming true? Her thoughts ran in all sorts of directions as she thought about the implications of his words. Maybe he wanted a private moment with her, maybe a kiss-?
He came closer to her face and that’s when she actually squeaked.
“Let’s prank the king.” He whispered.
“Huh?” Lucy blinked several times dumbfounded and then realization struck her. “Whaaaaa-“
Natsu quickly covered her mouth with his hand effectively silencing her.
As Natsu pulled Lucy away from the ballroom, their friends noticed them slipping away.
“Ooo, I wonder what they are up to.” Levy said smugly.
“Ehh, I wouldn’t put so much hope on Salamander.” Gajeel said as he shrugged. “But I do have hopes on Lucy, gihihi.”
Gajeel and Levy looked at each other and then burst out giggling as their imaginations went wild about their friends.
“Where did Natsu go?” Gray asked as he walked towards them, his overcoat was already gone.
“He ran off with Lucy.” Gajeel said with a suggestive tone and wiggled his eyebrows.
Gray smirked as he too wiggled his eyebrows.
“Don’t lose your clothes in the process, Gray.” Levy sighed as his shirt had disappeared.
“Wait, Natsu.” Lucy whined as she struggled to run in her long gown and heels. “I can’t run so fast.” Lucy pulled back her hand but she had already lost balance and ended up crashing into Natsu’s chest (who had turned around).
When Lucy looked up, she was too close to his face. She should have become used to being so close to Natsu but everything felt different tonight. From the dance to now. Nevertheless she managed to voice her thoughts.
“Where are we going?” She asked.
“To prank the king, of course.” He whispered.
“Can you at least let me go?” She said plainly.
Natsu stared at her for some time as if the gears in his head were formulating a plan. And then he grinned and pulled her closer.
“I’ve got the perfect idea.” He said with a mischievous grin.
“Please tell me it doesn’t involve me wearing a bunny costume or something.” Lucy sighed.
“Well, that was kinda the initial plan, but I have a better idea.”
Lucy pushed back from him and dragged her palm over face. When will he understand that he can’t just put her in any weird costume that he wishes.
“I just hope I don’t get into any trouble for this.” She muttered.
“Loosen up, we survived the worst.” Natsu said with his usual grin. Though his smile was all cheery, there was a tint of sadness shadowing the cruel reality they had faced.
“You’re right.” She sighed. “Alright let’s hear what your plan is.” Lucy said. She couldn’t believe she was actually agreeing to this.
“I want you to call Gemini.” Natsu grinned.
Lucy narrowed her eyes as she reached for the key.
“Ok.” She said slowly and suspiciously. You can never be too cautious around Natsu, especially when it involves her. “Open, Gate of the twins, Gemini!”
Natsu rubbed his palms together with a wicked smile. As soon as the spirits appeared, Natsu grabbed both of them and pulled them away from Lucy. He whispered something to them while grinning mischievously.
“Not fair, I also wanna know the plan!” Lucy huffed as she crossed her arms.
“Just watch.” Natsu grinned and rubbed his palms.
They walked back to the ballroom. When they were at the entrance, Gemini transformed into….the king?
As Gemini/king confidently walked towards the balcony, Natsu and Lucy decided to take a seat at one of the tables, pretending to be innocent.
With every passing minute, Lucy’s heartbeat quickened, she was gonna be in so much trouble. Natsu snickered. Which only panicked Lucy more.
The fake king appeared from the balcony where the real king had earlier made his announcement.
“What is Gemini doing?” Lucy whispered/shouted.
“Relax. The king is about to make an announcement.” Natsu grinned.
Gemini king cleared his throat. “Attention everyone, I have some important announcement to make.”
Everyone faced him.
“I command that everyone put their chairs over their heads instead of under their asses.”
Lucy gasped and turned to glare at Natsu who only grinned maniacally.
“Secondly chairs will no longer be called chairs, they are to be referred as butt warmers.”
“Lastly, I nominate all Sabertooth members to a frog jumping race.”
Everyone whispered in bewilderment, unsure whether to follow the kings weird orders.
“I am your king, and I command you to follow my orders or else you all will be executed!”
Everyone got up from their cha- butt warmers and placed them over their heads.
“All Sabertooth members, line up, clear up space in the middle for the race.” The fake king commanded.
Natsu snickered, watching the chaos unfold from the corner. They had moved to a corner, so that they were not involved in the mess.
All Sabertooth members lined up, bewildered and annoyed.
“Why only us?” Sting huffed as he squatted down.
“I am the king, do as I say!” When all the members had squatted down, the king raised his hand. “Ready, set, go!” He said all the words hurriedly due to which Rufus fell on his face after 2 jumps.
Natsu doubled with laughter, holding his stomach. Lucy couldn’t control her laughter either.
The rest of the team continued jumping till the finish line. Sting was the first and was almost to the finish line.
“Yess, I can- “ Rogue was too focused on his jumping that he didn’t notice Sting and crashed into him. Both guys fell just short of the finish line.
“Rogue.” Sting roared with anger and threw him off of him. He was gritting his teeth at Rogue, ready to lash out at him but remembered that he still had a chance at winning so squatted down quickly and resumed his race.
But when he reached the finish line, Orga was already there. Sting gritted his teeth and turned back to Rogue.
“It’s your fault, Rogue!” He shouted as a ball of white energy formed on his palm.
But before Sting could launch his magic ball, he was frozen in complete ice.
“Move away, now we wanna race.” Gray grinned, his shirt already out of the way.
Gajeel, Grey, Cana, Erza and even the master lined up to race.
“I can’t believe even the master joined.” Lucy sighed as she face palmed. But they were all drunk to some degree, so their actions were understandable.
“I never thought the extent of my prank.” Natsu laughed pointing at them. His wrist was soon yanked forward by none other than Gajeel.
“Come on, let’s race! You are not getting out of this one.” Gajeel said as he dragged Natsu along.
“Wah. Huh?” His laughter now switched to complete bewilderment. He was supposed to be laughing at their silly acts not him doing the said acts.
It was Lucy’s turn to double with laughter. “Hah you deserve it.” She said, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
“Now I command you to hold butt warmers over your heads as you race.” The fake king declared.
Everyone proceeded to place them butt warmers on their heads and squatted down.
“Ready-“
“What is going on here?” The real king chose to appear at that moment from wherever he had disappeared to. When he looked at the fake king standing on the balcony, he pointed an accusatory finger at him.
“Arrest him, that’s not the king. I am the real king.”
Everyone gasped and started murmuring.
“No, I am!” The Gemini king replied. But then the transformation wore off at that moment.
“Piri piri.”
And then all eyes turned to Lucy.
Lucy turned red.
“It was his idea!” She exclaimed and pointed at Natsu.
“Guards! Capture them!”
Natsu grabbed Lucy’s hand and ran.
“When I saw them slipping away alone, this is not what I had in mind.” Levy says disappointed as she rubbed her temples.
“Gihi. Not bad for a prank.” Gajeel grinned.
“Gajeel!”
The guards chased Natsu and Lucy throughout the palace. They weren’t giving up anytime soon.
“Can’t you call one of your spirits to distract them?”
“I am low on energy thanks to your prank.” Lucy bit back. This guy was impossible. “But I will try.” Letting Lucy’s spirits fight would be less destructive than if Natsu raised his hand and got them into more trouble.
“Open, gate of the maiden, Virgo.”
As Virgo kept the guards busy, Natsu took the opportunity to run into an open room where he spotted an open window.
“Do you trust me, Lucy?” He asked as he picked her up.
“Waaah! Put me down!” Lucy shouted.
Natsu stepped on the window sill.
“Natsu! What are you doing? Put me - aaaaa” Lucy screamed as Natsu jumped from the window. She clutched his neck so tight, she might have choked him.
Natsu’s feet lit up with fire and they started moving upwards. As his magic boosted them up, they landed on the roof of the palace.
“Where did they disappear?” Lucy could hear one of the guards shouting. The guard then looked down, thinking they must have jumped down.
Natsu and Lucy hid out of view of the window. After some time the guards left.
“Haha. That’s two times in a row today.” Natsu pumped his fist in the air.
Lucy rolled her eyes fondly.
“Maybe you should join the guards, it will be a great help for them.” Lucy laughed and punched his shoulder.
That was actually fun. Lucy never thought she would do something like that at a formal event let alone at the grand palace. Formal events had a whole different meaning with her friends around.
Lucy looked at Natsu with a smile.
Especially Natsu.
They both sighed and sat down gazing at the breathtaking view below. The full moon was brightening up the roof and shining on the city below. The city glittered with lights as everyone celebrated the victory over the dragons.
Lucy scooted closer to Natsu and rested her head over his shoulder as they watched the city below. It was a bit chilly up here and the moment her face touched his warm body, she relaxed and instinctively moved closer so that she was entirely stuck to him.
Natsu turned to look at her, confused. Due to his movement, Lucy also turned to look at him which brought them face to face. The look in his eyes, suggested he was far away. He was in deep thought.
They were so close, Lucy could fell his warm breath fanning over her. This was the second time tonight, that he had come so close like this. Maybe this time, she would get a kiss out of him. A kiss? What was she even thinking? Since when did she want a kiss from Natsu?
Her inner arguments stopped when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and touched her forehead with his. He sighed and closed his eyes.
“I am so glad you are here.” Natsu whispered, his voice coming out a bit shaky.
“Natsu?” Lucy whispered. From the break in his voice, Lucy knew what he was referring to. Future Lucy would forever leave a trauma in her mind and she was sure Natsu’s too. “I will always be here.” She replied with reassurance.
Getting caught up in the moment, Lucy leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek for assurance.
Natsu opened his eyes at the contact, staring at her for a few seconds before leaning in. Lucy closed her eyes. She felt Natsu’s lips, not on hers but on her cheek. He returned her action. When he pulled back with a smack, he gazed into her eyes.
“And I will always be here to protect you.”
Natsu may not be a romantic, but nevertheless he sure made her heart flutter at the most unexpected times. And most important of all, he returned her affection, he kissed her!
“Hey Natsu, what do you say we dance a little here?”
He cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowed and if she wasn’t mistaken there was a hint of a smile on his face.
Natsu recalled how he enjoyed seeing her dance, how good it felt to pull her back to him. So, he did the most unexpected thing he expected himself to ever do. He agreed to dance, and not because it was a competition, but because he enjoyed it. He enjoyed it, because he was with Lucy. Lucy made things fun.